twenty-five: in which she plays nurse

"I'm just trying to keep this together, 'cause I could do worse and you could do better" –Marianas Trench, Beside You

********************************

"Juice?"

"No, thanks."

"Water?"

"I'm good."

"Tea? Coffee? Yogurt?"

I laughed softly. "Kira, I'm fine, OK? Stop making me laugh, or I'll pop my stitches."

"Yeah, but Luke told me that I should ignore you when you say you're fine," she said, sliding under the covers to join me. She wrinkled her nose, freezing. "These sheets are clean, right? No dry ejaculate or lady juices?"

"I'm going to strangle you, I swear," I said, trying to contain my laughter. "You're ridiculous. These sheets are straight from the dryer."

"OK, good," she said with a smile, snuggling up to me. "Next time you decide to up and have a surgery at nine in the morning when I'm at school, warn a girl."

"Keeks, I had my appendix removed. It wasn't open-heart surgery." I let out a sigh, glancing at my phone when the screen flashed with a private number. Since it was on silent, I stuck it in my drawer and immediately forgot about it. "I wish Iris hadn't gone through my phone book and called everyone. This –" I gestured at the flowers that filled my room to bursting " –was not necessary. Four-year-olds have appendectomies and I'm pretty sure they don't get coddled the way you guys are coddling me."

"I had a cousin who died when his appendix burst. It was when we were kids and his parents didn't believe in medicine or hospitals," she said, leaning into the pillows. "Suffice it to say, their holistic approach didn't help Danny when his insides got all infected."

I chewed on my bottom lip, immediately feeling terrible. Dr. Webber had told me that if I hadn't gone to the hospital when I did, my appendix would've ruptured. If not in a few days, then a few weeks. She'd been very annoyed with me when I'd told her that I'd been ignoring the pain in my side for over a week. I didn't know what to say to Kira but she gave me an easy smile.

"So...what are we going to do with your month off, huh?"

"Easy. I am going to beg the Sister to let me go back to work next week, where I won't feel guilty for being paid for hours spent at home in bed."

"Are you out of your mind? They told you that you can't do any strenuous activity until at least a month, and you want to go back to work next week?"

I breathed a heavy sigh. After two nights in hospital after my surgery and one whole day in bed, I was bored out of my mind. I was willing to look at the bright side of things. The CT scan showed that I was perfectly fine – no ovarian cysts, no growths, nothing of that kind – so as my aunt Stacy used to say, we could thank God for small mercies. Absently, my hand drifted to the dressing on my right side.

"What does your boyfriend have to say about that?" Kira asked suddenly. She was eyeing me carefully. "Maya, does he even know you were in hospital?"

"He's not around." Not that I was worried that I hadn't heard from him in three whole days. Really, I wasn't worried. Much.

"Give me his number."

"No. Kira, this is no big deal. I'm fine. There's no need to worry him. He'll stick around like a leech, worrying about the smallest thing, and I won't have any space to breathe."

"I fail to see what's so bad about a sexy god being at your beck and call for weeks to come."

"It's the sexiness that's so bad. I won't be able to deal. No strenuous activity, remember?"

Kira broke out into loud laughter. "My God, I never thought I'd see the day Maya Fenton says she doesn't want to look without touching!"

"Shut up," I grumbled, pulling the covers up to my chin. "Don't you have anything else to do on a Saturday afternoon?"

"Besides Luke? No."

"You're too much." I let out a groan that turned into a yawn. "I think I'm going to conk out. You won't watch me sleep like a creep, will you?"

She was already tapping away at her phone. "Huh. You wish."

Smiling to myself, I settled into the pillows and, despite the bright sunlight streaming through the windows, fell into a deep sleep.

***

"Nah, you listen to me, Rage. We don't fuсkin' prostitute our women. If Slash wants to start a side business dealing in that shit, he's gonna meet my fist real fuсkin' quick because we. Don't. Deal. Women." Pause. "Yeah. Tell him I'm lookin' for his dumb fuсkin' ass. The whole club is lookin'." Pause. "My voice is fuсking fine. Focus, brother."

Prostitution? Probably not the best way to wake up from what looked like a six-hour nap. When my eyes slid open, my bedroom was dark but the lights outside cast a dim glow on the figure pacing the floor. I pulled myself up into a seating position, rubbing my eyes and yawning loudly.

The figure stopped pacing, instead rushing to sit at my side. "You good?" Jake's hands were on my face, pushing tendrils of my hair away.

"Yes, I'm fine. You?" He sounded funny. "When did you get back?" I cupped his face, suddenly just wanting to kiss him. Yes, two days without him and it felt like my heart was only starting to beat now that he was here.

He leaned away from me, not allowing my lips to meet his. I frowned, clapping my hands together twice. The lights came on. My shoulders sagged. "Poor Jake. Is your nose stuffy?"

He shot me a glare, but with watery, red-rimmed eyes and a nose as scarlet as a reindeer's, it had very little effect. Aside from that, he looked awesome. There was little that could make this man unattractive, I realized. His hair was chaotic, flopping over his forehead and standing in places. Golden stubble dotted his jaw and the T-shirt and jeans he wore were rumpled.

"Why the fuсk didn't you call me when you were in hospital?" he said, reaching for the box of Kleenex on my nightstand, one of the many things Kira had gone out to buy for me. "Or get someone to do it for you, huh?"

"Because I was OK. Because surgery went well and they kept me for two nights. You didn't need to be worried. Have you taken any cold medicine?"

Jake blew his nose loudly into a wad of tissues. "You think I wasn't worried when your friend Iris called me today? I was out of my fuсkin' mind with worry and you know what I do when I worry? I do stupid shit, Maya. Really stupid shit. Like break speed limits."

I swallowed hard. If there was one thing I knew about Jacob Ford, it was that he hated to think that history could repeat itself if he ran over a child out on the street, just like his father had done all those years ago. "She shouldn't have called you."

"Yeah. Because you should have." He threw the used tissues into the bin at my bedside. "I'm out of practice when it comes to this dating shit but I'm pretty sure a boyfriend should be at his girlfriend's bedside in hospital. You took that away from me."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I can't take you seriously with you sniffling like that," I said, beaming at him even as he scowled at him. "Come here."

When he wouldn't move, I reached out for him and pulled him into a hug. He smelled of leather, the musky scent that was all him and a faint tinge of sweat. I breathed him in, smiling to myself when he did the same and put his nose in my hair. "Bed rest for you, my sweet Jacob," I said when I withdrew from him. I patted the space beside me. "Climb in."

"I'm fine," he groused, beginning the task of removing his shoes. "This'll pass."

"You're not fine, Jacob. I'm betting you haven't taken or eaten anything," I said, casting the covers aside. "I want you to get better. If you have a nurse fantasy, this is it."

In the blink of an eye, he was pushing me back down. "I said, I'm fine," he bit out. He went for the edge of my sweatshirt, lifting it up, bunching it up beneath my ribcage.

Breathing heavily, I let him look at the bandages around my abdomen, let him touch me with his eyes. "How was Mexico?" I whispered.

"Fine."

"Your flight was OK?"

He let me go. "Flew there. Rode back. Should've called." He smelled pretty great for someone who'd been on the road for over a day.

"When are you gonna kiss me?" I griped, sitting back up.

"When I'm 100%. You eat something?"

"I haven't been all that hungry but Kira left some yogurt in the fridge for me. I think I'll have that."

"Cool. I'll get it. Anything else?"

"I'm really not hungry."Jake brought his face to mine, so close that I could finally see that a small bruise was forming on his right cheek. "Don't think for a –"

I kissed him because I couldn't help it and, with my hands buried in the unkempt locks of his blonde hair, I held him there. He made one weak attempt to pull his head back, but then he was kissing me back. No open-mouthed kisses for me, though, and when we eventually parted so we could breathe, he looked mad.

"Don't fuсkin' do that again, Silver Eyes," he growled, getting off the bed, "or I swear to God, I'll tie you the fuсk up."

"I fail to see the punishment in that."

Jake just looked at me before grabbing a handful of tissue from the box. "Keep your hands off me."

"Oh, stop acting coy." My mouth running like it was, was probably a lasting effect of painkillers. I thought.

"Coy? Babe, I sure as shit shouldn't be thinking about fuсkin' your goddamn brains out all over this goddamn room, 'cause the way we fuсk, I'd hurt you and you'd lose the stitches," he said, and I could see the rise and fall of his chest with every deep breath he took. "I shouldn't be thinking about it but I am. Don't make me fuсk you."

He stalked out my room, leaving me speechless.

***

I listened to the sound of the shower in my bathroom and decided to pass the time by playing Candy Crush on my phone. When I took it out the drawer and found several more missed calls from a blocked number, I freaked out and stuck it back inside. As if out of sight, out of mind worked.I slid out of bed and left the room.

By the time I got back, Jake was out of the shower, one of my blue towels hanging around his hips while he toweled his hair dry. His upper body was beautifully decorated with ink; ink that I admired. I had to force myself to ignore the various marks on his torso that matched the faint bruise on his cheek.

I held up the bottle in my hand. "You're going to take some of this, Jacob."

He eyed me warily. "Nyquil? Fuсk that, and get back to bed."

"Excuse me?"

"You know you heard me. Get back to bed."

"My doctor recommended I move around a bit," I informed him, "so no."

Jake turned away from me abruptly, sneezing noisily. The towel fell from his waist. We both looked down at the same time. Jesus, this abstinence thing was going to be so hard. Pun unapologetically intended.

Instead of picking it up, Jake looked at me slyly, coming up to me with a twinkle in his eyes. "I'm still pissed off with you, Maya," he said, cupping the back of my head with both hands. He tugged at the hair-tie securing my hair in a ponytail, freeing it so that it fell down my back. "I'm supposed to take care of you."

"I'm supposed to take care of you, too."A dark look crossed his face. "You can't take care of me."

"Why not?"

He frowned, as if he didn't know how to answer my question. "Fine." Then, grabbing the cold medicine from my hand, uncapped it and downed half the bottle.

"Jacob! That's not how you take it!" I snatched it back from him. "What is wrong with you?"

His only answer was to wrap a length of my hair in his fist and yank me to him. Pain shot through my scalp but once he pressed his lips to my forehead in a gentle kiss, that fizzled out. When he told me to get back into bed this time, I was mollified enough to comply. He slid beneath the covers behind me and gently slung his arm around my middle. I wiggled back, seeking his heat, but truthfully, he needed to put his clothes back on.

"What were you doing in Mexico?" I asked, at the same time he said, "Thank you."

I decided my question could wait. "For what?"

"My ma would force cough syrup down my throat when I was a boy." His soft laugh was in my ear. "I guess I was beginning to forget what it feels like to have a stubborn woman piss me off that way."

"Don't thank me, Jacob. I like taking care of people. Especially people like you."

"People like me?"

"People who go out of their way to take care of everyone else without expecting anything in return."

"I'm not so selfless, babe. I always have an endgame. Don't ever forget that."

I didn't plan to. "Are you going to tell me what you were doing in Mexico?"

I felt his hand curl into a fist before he pulled it away. I turned to look at him, lying on my other side. "Is it so bad that you can't tell me, Jacob?"

"Some things, you don't have to know," he muttered.

"Everything you told me on the phone was bullcrap. You promised me no more secrets."

"God-fuсking-damn, Maya. Just let it go," he snapped, pulling himself upright. "You wanna know what I was doing? Fine. Ghost and I went after his sister. She's thirteen fuсking years old and she got it into her head that she's in love with an eighteen-year-old punk from another club. A little girl on the back of a stupid kid's bike, road-tripping to Mexico City like Bonnie and Clyde doesn't sit well with me, and it sure as shit doesn't sit well with the little girl's big brother."

I had met Daisy only one time. She was a sweet girl who looked nothing like her brother and despised his authority. Plus she was tall. Really tall. And well-developed. Jake said the boy had maintained that Daisy had claimed to be seventeen but it made me sick to think of someone taking advantage of this girl.

"He didn't touch her, did he? This boy," I asked.

"No. Probably won't ever look at a young girl again."

I didn't want to ask if they'd hurt him. It was glaringly obvious that they had.

"I remember when I was her age. I started wearing a bra way before everyone else and I hated it. I hated how big they were and how uncomfortable they made me feel. I hated how the boys would stare and how they assumed I was easy simply because of my chest. My aunt pulled me aside one day and told me that I wasn't a kid anymore and that I had to be careful. I hated that." I sucked in air.

The memories were painful. I'd been a skinny and awkward-looking girl, with enormous breasts that grew out of nowhere and a backside like a truck. Phys Ed had been my worst middle and high school experience, especially in the changing rooms. Young girls could be evil creatures to each other and I couldn't count how many times I'd punched a girl in the face for a mocking comment.

"They're still pretty big. I guess I should accept them, huh?"

"And wear your bra size? Yeah," said Jake, jumping onto this change of subject with gusto. "Just looking at you, I'd say you're a 34D."

I snorted. "Who knew you were such a boob whisperer?"

Obviously, certain insecurities had followed me into my adult life. Even now, I was uncomfortable with my body. Jake's eyes swept across my face before his fingertips did, tracing the curve of my chin.

"I can't stop touchin' you," he whispered, shifting forward so that our fronts were touching. "I missed the fuсk out of you, Silver Eyes. You scared the shit outta me."

I smiled, putting my fingers to his unshaven jaw. "I missed the fudge out of you, too."

He let out a breath. "Fudge, huh? What the hell am I gonna do with you?"

"Kiss me, hopefully?"

Jake leaned forward, pressing his lips to my forehead. "That's all you're gettin' from me, babe. Now sleep."

***

I felt like I was in an incinerator.

Despite the fact that there was only a thin stream of morning sunlight through the curtains, I woke up feeling like the sun was at arm's reach and I was burning from the inside out. Jake was wrapped around me and the covers were tangled around our legs. His skin was burning hot to the touch and that heat was being transferred to me beneath the thick fabric of my sweats.

"Jake? Jake! Jacob, wake up," I mumbled, trying to extricate myself from his long-limbed prison. "Jake!"

I managed to break my arm free and place the back of my hand against Jake's forehead. At this, he stirred, his grip on me loosening. "What?"

"You're hot, Jacob. Way too hot."

"Aw, thanks, sweetheart," he murmured sleepily, a lazy grin on his face. "You're fuckin' hot, too."

"I meant that you're burning up. Let me up." I rolled away from him, kicking my feet free from the comforter and pulling myself onto my knees to examine him. "You look like total crap."

"You break my heart."

He pulled himself upright with a pained groan, leaning against the mountain of pillows behind him. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you can't wait to stick a thermometer in my mouth and drown me in cold medicine."

"Well..."

His phone rang from beside the bed and he grabbed it, answering it after a glance at the screen. "What's up?" Pause. "I'm on my –"

I snatched his phone from his hand and put it to my ear. "Hi there! Who do I have the pleasure of interrupting?"

"Maya?" Ghost's familiar drawl was easy to recognize.

"Oh, hey, you. Jacob was about to say that he's on his way but unfortunately, that is not happening. He's no doubt got a temperature, his nose is blocked and he couldn't sit up without whimpering like a kitten." I took a deep breath. "I had a laparoscopy three days ago and I swear, Ghost, I am not in the mood to hear that my boyfriend has either been in yet another fight, or that he was too weak to actually defend himself and ended up getting his stubborn head knocked to kingdom come. Find another Phantom to do whatever the heck you want Jake to do for you today."

Ghost's husky laugh filled my ear. "What did Ripper do in his past life to deserve you, Maya Fenton?" he wanted to know, even as the man in question shot me the dirtiest look ever. "Fair enough. I'll get somebody else to babysit my sis."

"Babysit Daisy?" I knew I sounded surprised. Here I was imagining something more...sinister. "Well, I can do that. Just drop her off at my place."

"You sure? I mean, you're out of bed and shit?"

"I'm sure. I like Daisy."

"Fucking A. I'm sure Rip told you about Mexico. I can't leave this kid alone no more. Can't trust that she won't run off with the next punk that sniffs her way." He finished this off with a heavy sigh. "Thanks, Maya. Tell Rip I say to get his pussy ass better."

"I'll paraphrase. You're welcome. And, um, you know where I live?"

"Always," he said, and if that wasn't creepy, I didn't know what was.I hung up and handed Jake his phone with a wide smile. "He says feel better. Plus we're babysitting today."

Without taking his eyes off me, he pressed a button on his phone. "Siri, how should I deal with a woman who's fragile right now but begging for some punishment?"